He saw something in her face that made him drag he
r back. And there was no mistake this time. This kiss was no accident. Luke’s lips were firm and persuasively mobile, and when he held her it was with both hands resting lightly either side of her ribcage, so that his thumbs could tease the full swell of her breasts.
But as the warm wave of pleasure swept over her, driving everything bad away, he let her go. ‘I’m taking you home,’ he said abruptly, turning for the door.
Even after all this time she received the message loud and clear. Luke was a warrior, with a warrior’s appetite, and no one should mess with that. And as a friend he was hurt that she couldn’t bring herself to confide in him. It was a dangerous combination.
This time she didn’t stop to argue, she just grabbed her coat.
The tension between them remained high as they drove back to the caravan park, where it developed into a full-scale snarling match about where Luke should drop her off.
‘Do you seriously think I’m going to let you walk through the dark on your own?’ he roared, slamming on the brakes.
‘Don’t you get it? I’m on my own now, and I’m fine,’ she whipped back as Luke swung round to glare at her.
‘I’m fine,’ he mocked, in a whiney approximation of a girly voice, which made her want to launch herself at him and punch him like the old days.
But Luke was right about one thing. Those days were long gone.
‘How do you think I’ve managed without you all this time?’ she demanded, when Luke remained tensely silent, with the steering wheel clenched in his big hands as if he’d like to rip it out of its fixings. ‘Anyway, I’m getting out.’
There was still no response from Luke. And now there seemed to be a problem with the door, which rather spoiled her grand flounce off. ‘Child lock, Luke?’
‘If the shoe fits, Lucia.’ His eyes had darkened to jet.
‘Let me out right now,’ she warned as he sat back, clearly not prepared to let her go. ‘You can watch me as I walk to the caravan.’
‘Oh, that’s so kind of you,’ Luke remarked sharply, reaching forward to release the locks.
The air was charged with tension, and Luke had made no mention of seeing her again. She sure as hell wasn’t going to ask him. But there was a little pocket of guilt inside her that said, Don’t let the evening end like this. You’ll never forgive yourself.
She turned before stepping down. ‘Thank you again for—’
‘It was nothing,’ he interrupted coldly.
‘Well, thank you anyway.’
Luke sat immobile with his eyes narrowed on some distant horizon where she couldn’t reach him. She felt wretched leaving like this. Her birthday night had been crammed with emotion and drama, which Luke had cruised through. He’d bought her a lovely gift and a card—even if at the instigation of her brother. And he had kissed her. Luke had kissed her. Her lips were still swollen.
Darting forward impulsively, she pressed a kiss on his stubble-roughened cheek. ‘Thank you.’
‘For goodness’ sake, go,’ he snapped, staring fixedly ahead.
He watched Lucia totter across the rutted field in her totally unsuitable shoes and her flapping yellow rubberised coat. How anyone could look quite so desirable in that get-up beat him. But when he’d danced with her, when he’d held her, when he’d felt how warm and young and supple she was … how vulnerable … When those full breasts had rubbed insistently against his chest. How he hadn’t dragged her to him and kissed the breath out of her lungs, he had no idea.
Raking his hair with frustration, he switched on the engine. Bang went the ‘like a sister’ theory. The urge to bury his face in Lucia’s chest and hear her whimper with pleasure while he made love to her had almost overtaken him. It had even crossed his mind to have her in the car. With her feet up on the dash and endless adjustments available to the seats anything was possible.
Except that. Throwing the off-roader into reverse, he knew he would never throw away years of caring about Lucia for a mindless screw in a field. However much she tried his patience he would always be there for her. He had tried to blank her from his mind—goodness knows how hard he’d tried—but she never left his thoughts. She had her own little space in there.
Not so little, Luke accepted as he swung the wheel and turned the car onto the road. Kissing Lucia had been a revelation and had left him wanting more. Much more. What he needed now was distance from Lucia and a chance to put his thoughts in order so he could work out what had really happened tonight.
He made it half a mile down the road before standing on the brake. He could solve most problems with money, but not Lucia. And he couldn’t trust anyone else to sort things out for her. No wonder she hadn’t wanted him to see the state of the caravan she was living in. Maybe she did have something to prove—but not at the expense of her safety. Throwing the gear into reverse, he headed back.
This had nothing to do with her breasts, he told himself firmly as a mental image of his big callused hands encompassing Lucia’s lush breasts almost caused him to steer into a ditch. Concentrate, he told himself firmly as he tickled the brake pedal at the approach to the Sundowner Guest House and Holiday Park.
St Oswalds had suffered in the recession. This was something he knew a lot about, having rescued his family’s business in a recession before going on to build his own company. Fortunately he had both the means and the practical capability to revive the village he believed in. Those childhood summer holidays were as clear in his mind now as they had ever been. So, however small a project the Sundowner might seem to anyone else, it was worth a king’s ransom to him for the memories alone.
He could see a dim light shining in Lucia’s decrepit van. Cursing softly as an image of a naked Lucia, wet and beneath a shower, flashed into his mind, he turned off the road and drove through rotting gates hanging off their hinges. This was worse than he had imagined. Everything was overgrown and desolate. Lucia’s was the only van on what had once been a well-ordered pitch full of caravans. How could she continue to live here?